Love Me Already, Will You?
by breakingtheocean
Summary: Some would say that it began on a cold September 1st, others on a damp day in June; some would even go as far as saying a sunny day in mid-November. Most, however, would tell you that it started on October 31st, otherwise known as James Potter and Lily Evan's fifth Halloween at Hogwarts, or maybe even the day they finally really started falling in love.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Some would say that it began on a cold September 1st, others on a damp day in June; some would even go as far as saying a sunny day in mid-November. Most, however, would tell you that it started on October 31st, otherwise known as James Potter and Lily Evan's fifth Halloween at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

James Potter was scurrying down the great marble staircase that emerged from the Great Hall, his Invisibility cloak thrown lazily over himself and a wand in his left hand. As he descended the stairs, he glanced repeatedly at his watch, a habit that he had developed on nights like this. It was just past 11:00, and no one else appeared to be roaming the castle, much to his liking.

He bounded silently across the entrance hall and skidded through the massive oak doors, which had been propped open thanks to his friend Peter Pettigrew. As he stepped into the chilly night air, he slid the cloak off of him and tucked it away behind a bush near the end of the steps. Almost soundlessly, he walked away from the entrance to the school and over to the Whomping Willow, currently swaying slowly in the breeze. He spotted Peter and his best friend, Sirius Black, sitting a little ways away from the tree, both of them already in their Animagus forms, clearly waiting for James.

Sirius, now a great black dog, gave him a howl of greeting as he approached them, and James couldn't help but grin. "Hey to you, too, Padfoot," he whispered into the night, taking his wand and sliding it under a hedge. He stretched out his arms and legs and took a deep breath. "Sorry I was late, I had to try and dodge-"

The oak doors gave a mighty lurch and instantly, Sirius and Peter had darted off and hidden in the dark, leaving James to stand by himself like an idiot. He cursed under his breath about leaving his cloak so close to the castle, and turned to face the school again.

"_Potter_!" The voice echoed throughout the grounds, hitting James like a slap in the face.

Lily Evans stopped on the stairs and glared at him, her green eyes shining. She had her hands placed haughtily on her hips, and one of her eyebrows was raised in a deeply interrogative way.

"Evans!" James whooped, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He glanced behind him to make sure that neither of his friends were sticking about, then waved hello to her. "Fancy meeting you here, eh?"

"What – the – bloody – hell – are – you – doing!?" she demanded, hopping off of the staircase and stomping over to him. "Roaming around the grounds in the middle of the night? Do you _want _to get expelled?"

"Of course not. I was just…well, I couldn't sleep, and Longbottom's snoring was getting really annoying, so I decided to take a stroll." He held his hands up innocently. "Look, I know you're in prefect mode and everything, but just hear me out, okay? I wasn't doing anything _illegal_-"

"It's past nine. You're breaking the rules."

He stared at her, seemingly at a loss for words. "Lily, I will pay you ten Galleons to just go back up to the common room and pretend this never happened-"

"Oh, no." She pulled her wand out of her cloak pocket and pointed it threateningly at him. "You're coming back up to the castle with me, and McGongall will certainly hear about this. I might even decide to tell her that you and Black were sneaking firewhiskey up into your dormitories last weekend, but only if you cross me on the way up."

"But-"

"Shut it." She beckoned him forward and he had no choice but to obey. "Honestly, you and your little _pack _are so _ignorant _to the rules. Why can't you just behave like everyone else? Set a few good examples for the younger students? Do you understand that they _look up to you_? God knows why, as you're just an idiotic prat with about as many brains as a tree. Sometimes I really do wonder how you even made it this far in school; it still surprises me Dumbledore didn't expel you after you temporarily blinded that Slytherin sixth year in our third year…."

He let her ramble on, partly for the sake of hearing her talk, but mostly so he could cast a few glances backwards and catch Sirius snarling at him before slipping under the Whomping Willow after Peter. Guilt bubbling up inside him, he followed Lily back up to the common room, making a mental note to retrieve his cloak in the morning.

"_Devil's Snare_," Lily whispered to the Fat Lady, who was dozing off in her painting. When she didn't respond, Lily cleared her throat and said, in a slightly louder voice, "_Devil's Snare_."

"What is it with you students and prowling around at night?" the Fat Lady grumbled as she swung open to reveal the portrait hole. "No respect these days…."

Lily looked behind her to give James a dirty look, then proceeded to march over to one of the tables near the back of the room and grab a quill and piece of paper. "Just making a note to remind myself to report to McGonagall tomorrow. I'd do it now, but I wouldn't want to wake her. I, much unlike you, have respect towards teachers and rules."

He sighed, feeling rather gloomy now that he had missed getting to spend the evening with his friends. "Yeah, whatever."

She looked up at him as she scribbled, frowning. "What's up with you?"

"Me?" He pointed to himself, and she nodded with a roll of her eyes. "Nothing. Why?"

She folded the note up and placed it in her pocket. "You usually waste every second you have with me by asking me out," she said, eyeing him carefully. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Of course." He attempted to think up a clever joke to distract her with, or even a witty compliment, but he was too disappointed with how the night was going to actually go through with it. "Well, if you're all done with me, I think I'll head back up to bed."

"Right." She gave him one last searching look before starting off towards her dormitory.

"'Night, Evans!" James called half-heartedly after her, and made his way to his own four-poster. Frank Longbottom was indeed snoring rather loudly, and James let out a disgruntled sigh before throwing himself on his bed and closing the hangings.

The next morning, the entire castle would be gossiping about James Potter and Lily Evan's late night adventure, making up ridiculous and slightly inappropriate stories about what they had been doing before entering the Gryffindor common room at midnight.

_I really hope you liked it! Please don't hesitate to leave me a review and give me some feedback; I'd love to hear what you have to say! I understand that this chapter was very short, but the next few will definitely be longer! Have a good day/night! xo _


	2. Chapter 2

James couldn't help but be thankful with how fast news spread around Hogwarts.

He had awoken that morning to a much unexpected, very hurtful slap in the face from an extremely irritated Sirius, who started on a twenty minute long rant about how James cared more about girls than his friends before Peter finally broke into tears and gave James enough time to explain himself. Although thoroughly unconvinced, Sirius let James slide with one more slap to the face and a few choice words being thrown at him.

They had made their way down to the common room only to find it swarming with bodies, all making a circle around Lily, who was in hysterics. She was shouting at random people and pointing at her Prefect badge, and once even pulled out her wand and rounded on a pimply fourth year boy. James sprinted down the boys' staircase and pushed through the crowd to stand next to her. As soon as she spotted him, she let out a furious wail and stamped off and out of the portrait hole.

"What's happened?" James asked to no one in particular, watching the hole close behind her and feeling his heart sink. "What were you all harassing her about?" he shouted, his voice quivering with anger. He turned to the pimply fourth year and poked him hard in the chest. "Explain yourself, or I swear I will make your face even worse than it already is."

"You sh-should know," the boy stammered, staring at James fearfully. "It's about y-you and her."

Sirius joined James and looked around at the now departing Gryffindors. Most of them had their heads together and were mumbling, some even looked slightly disappointed. "Everything alright?" he asked. "Who's this?" He gestured to the fourth year.

"Answer me, dammit!" James pressed.

The boy gulped. "Everyone's saying that, well that you and Lily Evans snuck out last night to _snog _o-or something. People were saying other things, too, but I don't really feel comfortable getting too in detail-"

James pushed the boy away and faced Sirius, biting his thumb. "People are…saying Evans and I…_snuck out to snog_?"

Sirius watched him carefully. "Er…."

Suddenly, James threw his arms in the air and let out a loud, echoing laugh. "Merlin's beard, this is brilliant! Okay, come on, let's go down to breakfast. I want to hear some more of these rumors…."

As they headed down to the Great Hall, James was met with multiple claps on the back and whispers of congratulations, along with a few very detailed stories of what he and Lily had apparently gotten up to in the wee hours of the night. They were all completely altered, but the most ridiculous had to be when Gregory Davies asked James if he had really flown Lily to London for a secret date.

"I can't believe this," James was saying as they took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. Peter started digging into the bacon and eggs he was piling onto his plate, and Sirius winked at a pretty sixth year Hufflepuff girl who had locked eyes with him when he sat down. "You know, after all the rude comments and threats I get on a daily basis telling me that Lily would never go out with a git like me, everyone seems to be believing these stories. Not that I mind, of course. Oh, if only Moony could be here to see this!"

"I'm sure he would tell you to try and disband the rumors _immediately_," Sirius snorted, raising his voice a little to try and imitate Remus better. "Though they'll never happen, they're not hurting anybody."

"Your faith in me is pitiful," James said, spooning oatmeal onto his plate and grabbing a few pieces of buttered toast. "Maybe these stories will help convince Evans to actually consider dating me. I mean, she can't help but get a little curious with all these stories floating around, can she?"

It just so happened that she could. In Transfiguration, their first class of the day, James had tried to approach Lily in an attempt to start up a normal conversation, ignoring the whispers that flitted through the classroom, but Lily had just pressed her lips together and continued taking notes, ignoring him completely. During Herbology she and her friends Alice and Marlene chose to pot their plants in the back of Greenhouse 5, the farthest away they could get from James, Peter, and Sirius.

During lunch, James couldn't take it.

"Lily-flower, Evans, Lily, _will you just look at me_?"

She dabbed at the corner of her mouth with her napkin and slowly raised her eyes to level his. "What?" she said simply.

He gaped at her. "Wha-? Why are you ignoring me?"

Marlene and Alice glanced nervously at each other, and Alice made to open her mouth, but Lily motioned for her to be quiet and dropped her eyes away from James.

"I expect _you _started these horrific stories?"

"What? No! No, Lily, I wouldn't do that! I know how upset it makes y-"

"Well then you haven't exactly been denying them, have you?" she asked, her voice icy. "Get away from me, Potter, I don't need people to start discussing our _wedding plans _just because I've been seen talking to you."

He tried to speak again, but Lily was too quick. She pushed her plate of half-eaten casserole away and grabbed her back, then stormed out of the Hall, her face screwed up in fury.

"What was that all about?" Sirius asked, watching James as he sulked back to their end of the table.

"She's doing that thing again," James mumbled miserably, burying his head in his hands and letting out a hearty moan.

"She's ignoring you?" Peter replied, sympathy weighing his voice down. James grunted his answer.

The afternoon followed the same pattern as the morning. She made sure they couldn't come in contact with each other in the corridors, asking if a group of her friends would surround her as they switched classes. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lily actually left her usual seat and took one at the front of the room just so she could avoid James' stares.

Remus returned to the common room that evening, dark circles under his already weary eyes and a stack of books in his hands. He dropped them on the floor next to his armchair and collapsed, letting out a yawn.

"What's got you so beat up?" Sirius asked as he tossed his quill into the air and caught it smoothly between his teeth.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe just the fact that I was a _werewolf _all last night," he hissed. "It gets a bit tiring after a while, you know?"

"I s'pose I don't know. I would think that a certain werewolf would at least be a little bit appreciative that another certain someone wasted a whole night's worth of sleeping to frolic around the grounds with a certain werewolf." He made sure to drop his voice to below a whisper whenever he uttered the word _werewolf_.

Remus glared at him. "You love frolicking around with me in the middle of the night, Sirius. Don't be thick." He looked over at James, who had his face in his hands and was lying pathetically on the floor by the fire. "Is he alright?"

"Lily's ignoring him again," Peter answered, giving his friend a pitiful look before returning to copying Sirius' Astronomy essay.

Remus rolled his eyes and pulled one of the books off of the stack, propping it open on his lap. "I don't know how many times I've told you, Prongs. Just _talk _to her! You need to stop it with the idiotic tricks and just tell her how you really feel."

James lifted his head from his hands and glared moodily at Remus. "I'VE TOLD HER HOW I REALLY FEEL!" he shouted, and multiple heads turned to look his way, but he didn't care. He raised himself up on his elbows and wailed, "It wasn't my fault this time! People just like to spread rumors about me and ruin my life!"

Remus blinked. Still staying calm, he looked over at Sirius, who was now scribbling curse words onto his armchair with his quill. "What happened?" he asked, choosing to ignore his friend's crude behavior.

"Oh, someone spread a rumor that Evans and Prongs were dashing about the castle shagging last night," he replied in a bored tone as he traced over a particularly rude word and underlined it. "When really our dear Prongsie was just skipping out on us to get in trouble by the Prefect."

"I WASN'T _SKIPPING OUT ON YOU_!"

"Yes, well, maybe if you hadn't taken so long to get your ass down there, you wouldn't have gotten caught!"

James snatched a book from Remus' stack and whipped at Sirius' head. "HELENA BORTHAM CORNERED ME FOR TWENTY MINUTES ASKING ME ON A DATE BEFORE I COULD START MAKING MY WAY DOWN HERE YOU FU-"

"ENOUGH!" Remus gave them all warning looks. "I swear, it's like sometimes you just _forget _that there are younger kids here…."

Sirius smiled wickedly at James. "I'm only pulling your leg, Prongsie. You should know that by now. Have you ever thought of taking some classes on controlling your anger?"

"You're not making matters any better," Remus sighed, looking even more tired than he had when he had first taken a seat. "Prongs, there's nothing you can do but deny the rumors when you hear them – which I know you haven't been doing – and wait for them to blow over. They _will _blow over, I promise," he added when James let out a pathetic whimper. "Just give it time, okay?"

It so happens that James would have to give it a lot of time. Lily ignored him for the rest of the week, and once even cornered Sirius to pass on the message to leave her alone, as James had taken a liking to calling her name whenever they passed in the corridors. After a while, when he couldn't take her ignoring him anymore, he started up his old ways of embarrassing flirtation methods and obnoxious pleas to go out with him.

A few days before term ended and Christmas holidays began, he bewitched a herd of snowmen he and Sirius and Peter had made to sing _White Christmas _to Lily, who had reacted by blowing each of them up with her wand and sending a snowball into James' face. He took it as a good sign, though, and cheered, "At least she's starting to come round!" when he was wiping snow out of his eyes.

As Lily's friend Marlene gossiped to Sirius, Lily would be thankfully returning home for the holidays, while James was staying back at the castle with his friends. Seeing the day she left as his last chance to leave a good impression for when she came back, James chased her out of the castle and down to the train station with a bouquet of roses and slipped them into her unwilling hands.

"Evans, I really care about you, and even though we're going through a rough patch right now, I just wanted to say-"

"That's enough, Potter," she said coldly, shoving the flowers into his chest and making a step to the train. "Just give it a rest, won't you?"

Open-mouthed and seeping with self-pity as he watched her walk away from him, for what seemed like the four-hundredth time in his life, he turned around and came face-to-face with his favorite play toy.

Severus Snape was smirking at him under his curtain of greasy black hair, his crooked nose shining red from cold. He had one hand in his pocket, presumably on his wand, and the other balled up in a fist, as if sure that James was going to try something.

"Haven't you had enough of bothering Lily?" Snape asked, his lip curling as he stared James up and down. "Haven't you had enough of hearing her tell you that she can't stand you?"

"Shut up," James muttered, trying to think up the best hex to make Snape suffer.

"If you love her so much, why don't you just listen to her? Or are you too stupid to even be able to do that?"

"I said, _shut up_!" Faster than Snape, James whipped his wand out of his cloak pocket and pointed it straight at Snape's face, whispering an incantation under his breath that sent the other boy flying backward. Snape landed on the floor of the station with a loud WHAP! and appeared to be unconscious. James heard someone on the train scream, followed by a chorus of laughter.

He was just about to start gloating to the crowd that was forming around him when a rush of dark red hair pushed past him and Lily's voice reached his ears. "Sev! Oh, he's bleeding!" She was crouched over Snape's body, holding his head in her hand and looking up at James with the purest of anger bubbling in her eyes. "Don't you ever get sick of messing with people, you horrible, _awful _little toerag!?"

Professor Slughorn appeared them, brandishing his wand and looking stricken. Once his eyes landed on Snape, he let out a relieved sigh and dropped his wand. "Oh, good, I thought something was really wrong. Was someone screaming?"

"Something is wrong, Professor!" Lily insisted, using all her strength to heave Snape to his feet. His head lolled awkwardly to the side and Lily had to keep him balanced. "Potter hexed him!"

"Oh, yes, yes, alright." He still didn't seem very phased, as if students were knocked unconscious every day. "Potter, what hex did you use on him?"

"Just a simple one to knock him backwards," James said. "I didn't knock him out; the idiot did that himself when he landed so poorly."

"You _foul_-"

"That's quite enough, Miss Evans." Slughorn motioned for her to keep quiet and marched over to take Snape from her. "Everyone, get back on the train. I'll take Mr. Snape up to the castle myself and have him healed up by Madam Pomfrey. Yes, yes, I understand that he's due to go home, but just in case there's anything wrong. That's right, back on the train…."

As Lily walked by him, she rammed into his side and he nearly tripped over his own feet.

_I hope you enjoyed it! Feedback is so unbelievably helpful! xo_


	3. Chapter 3

_I have to apologize in advanced because this ended up being a filler chapter; I didn't want to make it too long and it turned out to just be blah. I'm sorry! I'll post the next chapter shortly!_

_xxx_

"_I think I may actually have a bruise where her elbow collided with my arm."_

_ "Good. Frankly, I think you deserve it. If you had just listened to me…."_

_ "Shut up, Moony. Your way of doing things is always so dreadfully _boring_."_

_ "Yes, that's right, make fun of Moony, even though he's the one who continues to give you answers to your homework and notes for the classes you decide not to pay attention to!"_

_ "Well, you see here, Moony: Padfoot and I are both perfectly capable of doing our own homework, but you just look so cute and important when you give us yours. We didn't want to see that light drain out of your pretty little eyes."_

_ "Honestly, why do I bother with you three anymore?"_

_ "Because we make you look better. Well, maybe not so much Wormtail and Prongs, but I do."_

_ "HEY!"_

_ "HEY!"_

_ "Oh, did I forget the 'no offense' part? Sorry about that. No offense."_

_ "OFFENCE TAKEN!"_

They were sitting in the back of History of Magic, scribbling on a piece of parchment Sirius had enchanted to just look like normal notes when viewed by a non-Marauder's eye. James had started out the conversation about Lily, but the others had a knack for getting him off track.

The Christmas holidays were over and James had been hoping that when Lily returned, she would be in a bit of a better mood and maybe even talk to him, but he was mistaken. She carried on with the same air of indifference towards him and walked about as if she didn't even know he existed, which was a very hard thing to do, considering that it was only the second day back and he had already locked a group of first years in a broom cupboard in the second floor corridor. As infuriated as this act had made Lily, she insisted Remus take it out on James. Luckily, Remus pretended to give him a stern warning and gave him a half-smile before walking away to finish patrolling.

"Perks of having a Prefect as a mate," James had said that evening, pulling out a large chocolate frog and giving it Remus as a thank you gift.

_"I think I'd rather be at home right now than listening to Binns drone on," _Sirius wrote, his chin resting on his fist and his eyes fluttering closed. "_Really, it's as if he never stops talking."_

_ "Poor bloke," _James replied, keeping his eyes locked on Lily, who was sitting in the row across from him, head bent over her desk as she took notes. _"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm."_

_ "Prongs, you're drifting off again," _Peter scrawled, sticking out his arm to knock James out of it. This resulted in James toppling over in his seat and landing with a crash on the floor. Heads turned to see the cause of the noise and the class erupted in whispers in giggles, yet Professor Binns continued his lecture on goblin wars as if nothing had disturbed him.

James shot Peter a filthy look and got to his feet, his cheeks pink. Lily had glanced back at him for just a second, her eyes dancing with the slightest hint of amusement, and he had caught it. Narrowly, of course, as she had whipped her head back around as soon as his eyes met hers. But still, it was there! He knew it.

_"I'm sorry, Prongs!" _Peter wrote hastily, looking anywhere else but at James' face in case he started yelling. _"I just meant to snap you out of your daze!"_

_ "Don't worry about it, Wormtail. It was worth the embarrassment, I suppose."_

He smiled to himself and jotted down a miniscule heart on the corner of the parchment, to which all of the Marauders replied:

_"Idiot."_

_x_

It wasn't until the last day of January that the rumors of James and Lily's "adventure" had stopped buzzing around the school. Most of the students were now talking about another one of the Marauders: Sirius Black, who was said to be dating one of the prettiest girls in school, Georgia Binks.

"Would you tell me already?" James hissed, reaching across the table to toss Sirius' homework onto the floor.

"OY! I was almost done with that!" Sirius bent over and snatched it off of the ground, only resurfacing to find James giving him a very accusatory look. "Tell you what?"

"Are you or are you not going out with Georgia Binks, that pretty Hufflepuff who plays Seeker?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "You know, Prongs, after all the stuff that has happened between you and Evans, I would have thought you were above petty gossip."

James restrained himself from hexing Sirius under the table and continued on, trying to sound as calm as possible. "Padfoot, I'm your best mate. I understand if you don't want to tell Moony or Wormtail, but come _on_. You need to tell me, at least! Please!?"

Sirius seemed to consider this for a moment, then simply smiled. "Oh, wittle Prongsie, how much you have yet to learn."

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?"

James would get the answer to this question exactly four days later, on a snowy Monday night where he alone sat in the library, studying a few jinxes that might come in handy the next time he spotted Snape. He was hunched over a book about a delightfully nasty one when he heard footsteps behind him, and then his name. "James Potter?"

He turned his head and saw Lily staring at him, obviously in shock. She had an armful of books in her left hand and her wand in the other. He nodded his head towards her and ruffled his hair before giving her a wink. "Hullo, Evans. How are you on this fine Monday night?"

"What are you doing down here?" she demanded. "It's past curfew."

His eyes flickered to the Invisibility Cloak lying in a heap on the floor. It was indeed much past curfew; already going for midnight. He gave it a swift kick under his chair and shrugged. "Bit of light reading. Besides, can't I ask you the same thing?"

She puffed her chest out slightly. "I'm a Prefect. I have every right to be…patrolling."

He grinned. "Patrolling, eh? Sneaking into the library, more like it. Then again," he looked guiltily at the book in front of him, "I can't say too much, can I?"

"No." She fidgeted uncomfortably from the weight of the books in her arms and pointed to the door with her free hand. "Get out. Up to bed, or I'll be forced to take points."

Holding his hands up in surrender, James got to his feet and grabbed his bag, stuffing the cloak inside as fast as possible before standing back up again. "Why is it that you always seem to catch me in the act?"

"Because you're always acting up, Potter. Have you ever behaved, even for a day in your miserable little life?"

"Behaving is overrated. You've got to be getting bored of the whole good girl act by now, haven't you, Evans?"

"Get _out_."

He took a step towards the door, but hesitated and turned towards her once more. "Lily, can I ask you something?" She shook her head, but he asked anyway, "You're friends with that Hufflepuff Seeker Georgia, right? Is she dating Sirius?"

Lily looked as if she were about to laugh, but stopped herself quickly and nodded briskly. "I thought you of all people would know what Sirius Black is up to."

James shrugged. "We've all got our secrets. Now, I bid you goodnight, my lovely Lily-flower."

Dodging a curse she threw at him, he dashed out of the library and threw his cloak over him as soon as he reached the stairs. Breathing heavily, he took his time in making his way back to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was currently snoozing in her frame, eyelids fluttering weakly as she snored.

"_Dirigible plum," _he hissed, his voice echoing eerily through the empty corridor.

The Fat Lady twitched in her sleep.

"_DIRIGIBLE PLUM!" _James raised his voice, though still managing to keep it below a yell.

The Fat Lady stirred and blinked her eyes opened. Irritated, she looked around the corridor, trying to find the cause of her being woken up. "Who's there?" she grumbled.

"Me!" James replied, not daring to take the cloak off yet. "_Dirigible plum!"_

"You must be one of those delinquent boys, then, hm? Always roaming about the castle in the middle of the night, not a care in the world for people like me. Oh, how it would delight me if you were caught. Maybe I should wake the castle, get Filch up here to teach you a lesson? Or I could just refuse to let you in."

"I gave you the password, you bloody hag, now let me in!"

"_Dirigible plum_."

Lily Evans had appeared out of nowhere, books still in her arms and wand still in hand. Her eyes were boring into the place where James stood, invisible, and her lips were pursed in irritation.

The Fat Lady gaped at her. "Lily Evans? I never would have thought such a girl would risk breaking the rules like this. Especially with that badge pinned to your chest!"

Lily sighed, guilt flooding her face. "I was busy all afternoon and didn't manage to get to the library until it was almost curfew. Time just kind of…escaped from me. Now, will you please let me in? I gave you the password."

We _gave you the password, _James thought bitterly.

"Alright, alright. But please be more mindful of the time from now on, dear."

"Of course."

The portrait hole was revealed and Lily stepped gracefully inside, leaving James to scramble in after her. Once they were safe in the common room, Lily mumbled to the ceiling, "Someone owes someone a lot," before trotting up to the girls' dormitories.

Grinning like mad, James went up to his own common room, where he found Sirius sleeping peacefully in his bed. Pulling his wand out from his pocket, James pointed it at his sleeping figure and thought _Levicorpus_.

Instantly, Sirius arose into the air and dangled from his ankle. The entire dormitory – maybe even the castle – woke from his screams and curses.

_I don't know how I feel about this chapter, but I can promise you that the next one will be better and longer! (I'm already almost done writing it!) I just have one question: do you suppose it would work if I made it so that Voldemort was gaining strength but not such a big threat yet? I want to wait until sixth year to really make things get interesting. _

_ Thank you for reading and please leave me a review! xo_


	4. Chapter 4

_I promised to post this chapter as soon as possible, so, here we are! (I also promised a longer chapter, and I am proud to say that I have succeeded!)_

_X_

As winter slipped into a warm, rainy spring, the fifth years were bombarded with more homework than they had ever seen in their lives. All of their professors piled essay upon essay and spell upon spell on them as their O.W.L.s loomed ever closer. The effects of this amount of work and the stress that came with it was starting to show; two girls from Hufflepuff had burst into tears during their Astronomy class, a boy in Ravenclaw went to McGongall asking to be placed in a different House because he wasn't smart enough for his own, and Frank Longbottom passed out from trying too hard when they were attempting to Transfigure a shoe into a bird.

"Poor Frank," Remus murmured, his eyes following Professor McGonagall as she scurried out of the classroom with Alice Prewett at her side, both of their wands raised as Frank floated in front of them. "His shoe has wings, at least."

James sighed as he watched his own bird fly circles around his head, chirping happily as it did so. "I think I'll name mine Lily. Look at it, so happy and pretty."

"That's creepy," Sirius laughed, prodding his shoe with his wand and swearing under his breath when it turned into a toad instead. "Dammit, I've been turning this stupid thing into a toad for the past forty minutes." He jabbed the toad with his wand numerous times. "Turn – into – a bleeding – bird – why – don't – you!"

Remus watched with amusement as the toad erupted in flames before swishing his wand and turning it back into a shoe. "You're trying too hard."

"Because I never have to try hard! I'm good at everything, but this effing shoe just won't turn into an effing bird, for Merlin's sake!"

"Is this stupid thing even going to be on the test?" Peter mumbled weakly from the left of James. His shoe had sprouted tiny, scaly wings and was trying its hardest to flutter into the air. Every feeble attempt ended with it giving out a pitiful _tweet_.

"That's just sad," James muttered, watching the shoe-bird fail at getting into the air again. "Please do something about that. It's so pathetic it's disgusting."

Peter let out a howl of despair and buried his head in his arms. "I'm going to fail my O.W.L.s!"

"No, you're not!" Remus snapped. "Just stop thinking about it so much. All you have to do is focus and then _voila!" _He waved his wand and a bright red parrot flew off of his desk and around the room.

"Show-off," James grunted, catching his bird and letting it peck gently on his fingers.

Remus wasn't the only one who had produced an impressive bird. Across the room, Lily had managed to Transfigure her shoe into a large, white bird with a feather-Mohawk on its head. It sat on her shoulder, hooting occasionally, letting Lily and her friends take turns stroking its back. Remus' parrot landed on her other shoulder and nipped at her ear.

"Merlin, what I would give to be that parrot," James said airily, now watching Lily with a dream-like glaze over his eyes. His bird was now breaking skin, and blood trickled down his hand, but he seemed not to have noticed.

"DAMMIT! ANOTHER TOAD!"

"You will watch your language when you are in my classroom, Mr. Black." McGonagall walked into the room, her robes swishing behind her. "Mr. Potter, you may want to stop day-dreaming and pay attention to your own bird. You're bleeding."

James snapped out of his daze and blinked at his bloody hand. He waved the bird away and turned it back into a shoe before tending to his wound.

"Miss Evans, Mr. Lupin, very impressive. I see you have been doing your homework?" Both of them nodded, smiling proudly. Sirius made a gagging noise that earned him a kick in the shins. "Good. Now, I want all of you to practice as often as you can this weekend. O.W.L.s are only a few weeks away, and I want all of you to do as best as you can. Obviously, this means lots of studying and hard work, which I expect all of you can do…."

"Blah, blah, blah, it's always the same speech, isn't it?" Sirius was saying as they made their way to the Great Hall for dinner. "What are O.W.L.s going to mean when we get out into the real world? How are they going to help us fight You-Know-Who and his group of bastards?"

"Stop talking like you actually know what's going on outside of Hogwarts," Remus said as they took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. "Nothing big has happened yet."

Remus had been receiving the _Daily Prophet _for the past few weeks, reading through each copy repeatedly and feeding his friends all of the information he had extracted. Lately, the issue of Voldemort hadn't been appearing very often; most of the paper had to do with protective charms you should put over your home or lists of suspected Death Eaters.

"I've noticed quite a few Slytherins have been taken out of school," James said as he chewed a piece of chicken. "Surprised Snivellus hasn't gone yet. Everyone knows the freak's obsessed with the Dark Arts. I wonder if he's waiting until the summer so as not to make himself look suspicious."

"You shouldn't accuse people of being Death Eaters, Prongs," Remus hissed, clearly worried. "Just because Snape's a little off doesn't mean –"

"Oh, don't go defending him!" James shot back, dropping his fork and glaring at his friend. "We all know that he's up to something! Besides, how could he _not _be on You-Know-Who's side when he hangs out with his lot! Mulciber and Avery's parents were all on the list of Death Eaters last month!"

"I'm just saying," Remus said quietly, "these are serious times. You can't go around talking like that! Just watch your tongue until you get some real proof."

"Proof," James scoffed. "The way Snivellus looks is enough proof in itself."

The rainy days seemed to drag on in to early May, and much to everyone's disliking, homework seemed to become a crucial part of surviving the rest of term at Hogwarts. Though the rain already prevented it, the combination of homework and studying made it absolutely impossible to spend any time out on the grounds. The teachers appeared to believe that the weather was a great excuse to work harder on passing all of their O.W.L.s, therefore giving them more things to do.

While pretending to study and copying Remus' homework, James took quite a liking to watching Lily whenever he had the chance. He spent classes and lunch periods gazing at her from afar, noticing the way she smiled at strangers and tucked her hair behind her ears whenever she seemed frustrated. When the fifth and seventh years spent their time in the Gryffindor common room, he watched her study with Alice, Marlene, and Mary and scribble things down while crossing things out. There were usually – if not always – creases on her forehead as she stressed about work, and her brows were often furrowed in concentration. Sometimes she stuck a quill between her teeth and gnawed on it distractedly as she studied.

One major thing that James managed to pick up in a few days' time was that Lily and Snape seemed to be having some difficulties. As far as James could tell, when the pair were together everything seemed to be peachy keen, but whenever he spotted them with their separate groups of friends tensions ran high. He couldn't really spy on Snape and his gang of Death Eater friends, but Lily's clique was always in sight and occasionally he managed to pick up a few words.

"I don't know why you still bother hanging around with him, Lily. Have you seen his friends?"

"Or the way he talks about the Dark Arts?"

"I bet he's dying to get out of here and join his awful friends on the road to Azkaban."

Lily always seemed rather flustered by these remarks, but pushed them aside with, "He's a good guy, honestly," and "You just don't know him as well as I do." There was never a time she didn't stand up for him, and it infuriated James. How could she not see all of the things her friends were pointing out to her? Or maybe she did, but her and Snape's past meant too much for her? This bothered James even more, as for the last five years he hadn't been able to figure out why such a beautiful, kind girl would hang around with such a scumbag.

Soon enough the rain had cleared and summer sunshine broke through the clouds and illuminated Hogwarts and its grounds in gorgeous, long anticipated light. Though their O.W.L.s were only three weeks away, the Marauders and most of the other fifth years dropped their books and quills and sprinted out into the open air, taking large gulps of it and allowing themselves to forget about exams for a little while.

"Quidditch practice is going to beautiful from now on," James chirped, lying back and staring up at the bright blue sky. "No more coming back up to the school with robes soaked through to my skin."

"No more watching them with robes soaked through to our skin," Remus said thankfully, placing his Herbology textbook at his side and getting out a roll of parchment. "Merlin, that sounds heavenly."

"Hey, guys, where's Sirius?"

Peter pointed out a fair question, and James and Remus looked around suspiciously. Sirius wasn't really one to wander away from his friends, unless it was for one of two reasons: a prank, or a girl. And as Sirius hardly ever strayed away from James when he was performing a prank, it had to be the latter.

"Things must be going awfully well for him and Georgia if he's willing to skip out on us," James said grumpily. "Honestly, the one day we have off and he spends it snogging his stupid girlfriend."

"Come off it, Prongs," Peter said. "Don't act like if you had Evans, you wouldn't be off running around with_ her_."

James considered this a moment, decided not to respond, and continued staring at the sky.

"I thought so," Peter said, smiling to himself.

As much as everyone cherished the glorious hours spent hanging around outside, pressure from exams kept them back in their common rooms. Not a day went by that people would walk through the Gryffindor common room without being shouted at by either a fifth or seventh year for being too loud. Most of the time younger students and sixth years would spend as much time as they could away from these danger zones, too scared they would get points taken away just for talking a little too loudly.

Finally, O.W.L.s were upon them. Day one started off with the written exam for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"This will have to be the easiest one," James yawned as they stood outside the Great Hall, waiting for their professors to lead them inside. "I could pass Defense Against the Dark Arts in my sleep."

"Yes, well, I hope we're all that lucky." Remus was shaking and bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet, occasionally rising on his tip-toes to stare over the heads of his fellow fifth years and see if the doors to the Hall had opened yet. "Why won't they just hurry up already!?"

"Because they want you to suffer," Sirius said. "I paid them a few Galleons just to watch you panic."

"Very funny."

"You know, Padfoot, I don't think you have any room to be making jokes. We've all taken notice to your lack in caring for the Marauders lately," James said stiffly.

Sirius almost laughed. "Sorry I've got a girlfriend! Look, I'll be spending the rest of my life with you blokes, but girlfriends come and go quicker than the seasons. I'm spending my time with her because we haven't got much time left."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"What, are you going to sleep with her and then ditch her?"

"No! I actually care about Georgia, thank you very much! But her parents are really hesitant about keeping her in school. She's saying they might not let her come back next year."

"Alright, everyone quiet!" McGonagall's voice floated to them from the front of the line. "Get into exam mode! Everyone in, let's go! Take your seats and spread out!"

James ended up a few desks away from his friends after he tried to take a seat next to Sirius. A piece of parchment and quill appeared before him and eventually someone told them to begin.

The exam was remarkably easy. James actually felt a little insulted by how simple the questions were. _How do you defeat a boggart? _Most of the answers he had learned in his first three years. He spotted Sirius and gave him the thumbs-up, then went back to doodling Lily's initials on the corner of his parchemtn.

Eventually, Professor Flitwick told them that their time was up, and their test papers flew away from them and landed in his hands. As soon as they were dismissed, James found his friends and they headed outside.

While Peter had struggled with questions that should have been blatantly obvious, the rest had found the first test to be very easy. Remus joked about how he could have just described himself when talking about the question asking how to identify a werewolf.

They made their way out of the castle and across the grounds. James spotted Lily by the lake and pulled a golden Snitch out of his pocket, then proceeded to toss it up in the air, let it zoom around for a brief moment, and catch it again. Peter enjoyed this and clapped every time he made a successful catch, even squealing with excitement when James let the Snitch wander a little. They finally took their seats underneath their usual beech tree by the lake, where the water reflected the sky above perfectly.

James caught sight of Lily and her friends out of the corner of his eye and made sure to make some more impressive catches, just in case she happened to look over. He glanced at her every so often, ruffling up his hair as he did so. Sirius sat beside him, staring around at all the other students enjoying their day outside, looking as if he'd rather be doing something else. Remus had already opened one of his books and had his face hidden behind it. Peter was still watching James with a look of pure awe.

Sirius asked James to stop showing off with the Snitch after he made another brilliant catch and Peter let out a cry of excitement. Reluctantly, James slid it back into his pocket and stared off behind him. Sirius made a comment about the full moon, and Remus attempted to press his studying onto him. As soon as Sirius denied helping, James smiled.

"This'll liven you up, Padfoot. Look who it is…."

Sirius followed James' eyes and mirrored his grin. "Excellent," he said, his eyes twinkling with the thrill of something fun to do. "_Snivellus_."

Snape was on his feet, walking away from a clump of bushes with his eyes focused on the grass. Obviously anticipating what was to come, Remus stared fixedly on his book and frowned, while Peter wobbled slightly and moved his eyes from Snape to Sirius to James.

"All right, Snivellus?" James called.

It must have become a habit to Snape that James' voice meant immediate danger. He whipped his wand out and pointed it at James' face, but it was too late, James had already shouted, "_Expelliarmus!"_

Snape's wand flew away from him and landed in the grass. Sirius laughed and Remus winced, trying his hardest to ignore the scene going on right behind him.

Snape made a move for his wand, but James was not finished yet. _"Impedimenta!" _He watched with pride as Snape flew backwards, knocking his head off of the ground as he fell.

Sirius looked hopefully at James, who gave him a little nod and they advanced on their victim. Peter was on his feet, watching his friends hungrily. James took a second to peer over at Lily and her friends. He ruffled his hair for good measure.

"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?"

"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," Sirius chided, wand still pointed at Snape. "There'll be grease marks all over it; they won't be able to read a word."

A group had formed around the scene, and a number of onlookers laughed. Snape fought to get up, but James' jinx was still holding him down.

"You – wait," Snape panted, giving James the filthiest look he could manage. "You – wait!"

"Wait for what?" Sirius said. "What are you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?"

The crowd erupted in laughter, and Snape swore at them at the top of his lungs.

"Wash out your mouth," James spat. _"Scourgify!" _

Soap bubbles spilled out of Snape's mouth as he made horrible gurgling noises. He was gagging, choking on the perfumed bubbles –

"Leave him ALONE!"

Lily ran up to Snape, crouching down beside him and tapping her wand to Snape's lips to rid him of the bubbles. James ruffled his hair again.

"All right, Evans?" he asked smoothly.

"Leave him alone," she repeated, dislike showing in her beautiful green eyes. "What's he done to you?"

"Well," James pretended to think this over, "it's more the fact that he _exists_, if you know what I mean…."

Sirius and Peter joined in on the laugher echoing throughout the grounds. Lily and Remus were the only ones silent.

"You think you're funny," she hissed. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him _alone_."

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," James bribed. "Go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid."

"Bag luck, Prongs," Sirius said. "OY!"

Unnoticed, James' jinx had worn off of Snape, and he had managed to crawl and obtain his wand. As soon as James turned, Snape pointed his wand on him and there was a bright flash of light. Blood spattered James' robes as a slash appeared on his face. He whirled around, there was a second flash of light, and then Snape was hanging upside down in midair, his underwear shown off to the group of students watching.

"Let him down!" Lily shouted, though her voice faltered momentarily as if she were holding back laughter.

"Certainly." James gave his wand a bored little wave and Snape crashed onto the ground, a lump of robes and skinny bones. He jumped to his feet and tried his wand again, but Sirius was too quick. "_Petrificus Totalus!"_

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily screamed, turning her own wand on James and Sirius. The pair watched her carefully.

"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," James pleaded.

"Take the curse off him, then."

Disappointed, James obeyed her orders.

"There you go," James sighed, "you're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus –"

"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"

The air seemed to evaporate. Everyone was quiet and staring at Lily, who didn't seem to know what to do.

"Fine," she said coolly. "I won't bother in future. And I'd wash my pants if I were you, _Snivellus_."

"Apologize to Evans!" James bellowed, aiming his wand once more at Snape. The shock from a moment before had been replaced with a fiery anger.

"I don't want _you _to make him apologize," Lily started, turning to him. "You're just as bad as he is…."

"What!?" James cried. "I'd NEVER call you a – you-know-what!"

"Messing up your hair because you think it makes you cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with your fat head on it. You make me SICK!"

James looked stung. Lily whirled around and walked away. "Evans! Hey, EVANS!" When she didn't even bother to look back, James turned to his friends. "What is it with her?"

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate," Sirius responded, a little breathlessly. Even he seemed to be taken aback by the way things had turned out.

"Right," said James angrily. "Right –"

He pointed his wand again at Snape and with a flash of light, the Slytherin boy was hanging in the air for the second time. "Who wants to see me take of Snivelly's pants?"

The crowd did not respond. They were stricken, shocked by the event that had just unfurled before their eyes. Everyone knew that Snape and Lily had been friends from the get-go, and to see him call her a Mudblood was the ultimate surprise.

"You know what, Snivellus?" James said, his teeth gritted. The wound Snape had caused him was still bleeding. "I thought you were at least above using a word like that."

With a swish of his wand, Snape's underpants were once again revealed. Satisfied, James pushed through the throng of people, seeking out Lily.

_This chapter was really fun to write! I hope you enjoyed, and please, please leave me some feedback! I love hearing what you have to say! xo _


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